November 2, 2023 • 22 mins
Imagine finding yourself at the crossroads of life, unsure which path to take. Whether it's launching a new ministry or navigating choppy waters in relationships, we've all been there. In this heartfelt exchange, we share our personal experiences of venturing into the unknown, leaning on the wisdom of mentors, and the transformative power of seeking guidance through prayer. Listen in as we explore the courage it takes to step into uncertainty while keeping the flame of relationships alive, even during challenging times.
Not all storms are meant to disrupt your life, some come to clear your path. In the second part of our discussion, we turn our focus toward the strength derived from God's promises. We discuss finding solace in community support, embracing the fear of the unknown, and the importance of taking risks. Most importantly, we highlight the incredible power of continuous rejoicing in God, no matter the circumstances. Join us on this journey of resilience, sure to leave you feeling empowered and ready to face your own uncertainties.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Danny Ray (00:01):
Welcome back, it is good to be with you.
We are going to be talkingabout doing whatever it takes in
the areas of uncertainty today.
Yeah, so when things areuncertain, maybe it's a loss of
a job, loss of a loved one,maybe it's just a major
transition or a small transition.
Kimberly (00:18):
Or a global pandemic.
Hey, look at that.
Yeah, we are going to address alittle bit Any kind of
uncertainty, right yeah?
Danny Ray (00:25):
a little bit of what we did during the pandemic, but
it's not just that.
It's really things that we'vedone in patterns that we've set
up from the beginning that wewant to look at.
Yeah, how do you in the midstof your relationship one of the
things that's going to help youcreate a great relationship is
when things are uncertain, whenthings get a little shaky, which
(00:47):
can happen like things get alittle cattywampus in a moment.
Nice word Turn upside down.
Kimberly (00:55):
Yes, turn upside down, and yeah, it could be just a
piece of mail that comes in andyou go oh, we're being Jury duty
.
I did get that this week.
Yay, I get to do that.
Danny Ray (01:05):
You're serving our country.
Kimberly (01:07):
Right, right, right, let's be positive.
Yeah, just in the way of work,because this is my issue there.
But mail, I mean you can openthe mail and there's a tax audit
.
Life can be changed.
Danny Ray (01:21):
We've had three of those.
Those are so fun.
Kimberly (01:24):
Hey, but we didn't do anything wrong, so that was a
good thing.
But uncertainty right, so itcould be it can hit just your
car, right, Like somethinghappens in the car or a doctor's
appointment or just anything.
Right, yeah, get a flat tire.
Danny Ray (01:41):
How do you navigate uncertain times?
And so I want to take you wayback to 2001.
I was a youth pastor andabsolutely like love being a
youth pastor, loved just beingwith the students, creating
things that were interesting.
I feel like it's one of thethings that I've done all along
(02:04):
is how do I create things thatconnect people to who God is?
Kimberly (02:08):
and who's love for them.
Danny Ray (02:10):
And so 2001 started praying through, thinking
through what would it look liketo step out and create a new
ministry, and at the time Ididn't know any other magicians
out there doing it.
Kimberly (02:24):
No, yeah, that worked.
Danny Ray (02:25):
There's a handful that I've trained up now and
some others that I haven't thatI know of that are out there
doing it, but at the time Ididn't have like a reference
point for oh, here's how to be atraveling magician who speaks
at church.
Kimberly (02:38):
He speaks at churches conferences.
Yeah, there was no template.
Danny Ray (02:42):
We've done it thousands of times.
Yeah, out of that, when I wasmeeting with one of my mentors,
we were sitting in Coco's in SanDiego, el Cajon to be specific,
and we were sitting there.
We're talking about differentideas, and he put nine dots on a
napkin and a square, oh yeah.
(03:04):
You know three up, three down,you know like a square, almost
like looks like tic-tac-toe, butjust dots.
And then he said, danny, I wantyou to put the 10th dot.
And I was like, well, wheredoes it go?
He's like you have to decidewhere that goes.
And I put it clear on the otherside of the napkin and he
circled that and he said theministry you're talking about is
(03:26):
a 10th dot ministry.
It doesn't fit in the box ofwhat everybody else is doing,
and I feel like that has beenjust really helpful for us in
our relationship.
And how do we create a marriagethat's healthy in the midst of
having things that don't fitinto the box?
Kimberly (03:45):
And I feel like there's so many things you like
not fitting in the box, that'syour jam.
I'm perfectly happy with thebox, so there's a difference in
us right there.
But I did support you beingoutside of the traditional job
and, yeah, god called us to itand therefore equipped us to do
(04:05):
that.
Danny Ray (04:06):
Super thankful that you have supported me all along.
So I want to talk about how, ina relationship, how do you
support the other one when theidea just seems like it's out
there?
Kimberly (04:21):
Oh, it was out there, and lots of your ideas are out
there.
Danny Ray (04:27):
But that's certainly bad.
Kimberly (04:29):
I've learned to appreciate that.
But actually you've alreadykind of said one of the one of
the first things is you went toa mentor at that time and asked,
you sought wise counsel and andbiblically that something were
called to do when we have maybea crazy idea or or just some
uncertainty, like we said, notsure how something's going to to
(04:50):
work out or pan out or what weshould do, and then seeking that
wise counsel is definitely partof that.
Danny Ray (04:57):
Yeah.
So I think, if there is, youknow, an area of loss or
uncertainty or something you'relooking at jumping into in, not
that you need two years, but wetook two years to pray through
that, to seek wise counsel inevery single one of the
counselors, both people that Iknew and people that I don't and
(05:18):
just an idea for in any area,whether it's a spiritual mentor,
whether it's a business mentor,whether it's a speaking.
I've gone to you know guys whoare experts at you know
communication and speaking andwhatever, wherever you need help
and we've gone to differentmarriage goovers and currently
(05:39):
are meeting with a couple on amonthly basis to try to glean
wisdom from them.
But this is one of the patternsthat we've set up from the
beginning is hey, if we don'tknow something, there's somebody
out there that does.
Let's try to pick their brainsand ask them for wisdom.
And hey, you've been down theroad a little bit.
This is, if you have ever cometo one of our the things that we
(06:03):
teach at our house, you knowwhere we're going through a book
or something like that.
As a married couple, you knowwe've had, you know usually
studies yeah, six couples or soat a time, and one of the things
we always encourage them to dois to meet with other couples
that are older or have beenmarried longer than them and ask
(06:23):
them hey, what's going right,what's going well?
And what they tend to find outis that it's not perfect like
they think you know like theylook at you know, they look up
to these couples and go like, oh, they have to have everything
together.
Well, nobody has it all together, you know, there there's
struggles, there's pain points,there's things that they've
learned, but a lot of timesthey're a little bit further up
(06:46):
the road and so that's where Iwould just always encourage
people to just ask.
I mean the worst case scenario.
They say nope, I don't have thetime.
And here's some specifics interms of asking Is anytime I ask
somebody to mentor me, alwaysset the boundaries on it so they
they don't feel like, oh wow,this guy wants to meet with me
(07:07):
every hour on the for the restof my life.
Kimberly (07:10):
That's a good point.
Danny Ray (07:10):
It's usually I say hey, I would like to you know,
ask you to mentor me in whateverarea that is.
So this is different than justseeking wise counsel on a one
time basis from someone, gotcha,and I would like to do this for
six months and I'll take youout for lunch once a month and
you could pick the restaurantand we'll eat there and I
(07:31):
usually, wherever they'rethey're located, I go to them
regardless of how far, and I'vedriven hours and hours to get to
people to pick their brains onon things.
So that's just like some yeah,picking stuff on that.
Yeah, but yeah.
So, from the beginning, justtrying to develop, how do we, in
(07:53):
the middle of that, moving fromone job to another, what do we?
Kimberly (07:58):
do I mean a steady job with a steady paycheck and a
high, moving to something withcomplete unsteadyness.
Is that a word?
I don't know.
It is now your coining words.
I like it.
I'd hear it when you do yourcoining words.
Danny Ray (08:14):
So so fast forward 20 years.
We've been at it for well, itwould be like 17, 18 years.
Fast forward, like 17 18 to.
You know, we're in the middleof 2020 and we've lost every
single show.
Every event for a year is done.
Kimberly (08:34):
Everyone had to cancel .
Danny Ray (08:36):
There you know, in 2020, with the pandemic, there
were no live events.
All the live events, at leastthat we had, were completely
canceled.
Kimberly (08:47):
And so across the country.
Yeah, it didn't matter what thecity stated.
Yeah, they all had to.
Danny Ray (08:51):
We had to completely pivot and go okay, what are we
going to do?
And I was reading throughEcclesiastes at the time and I
got to chapter 11, and inchapter 11 it just really opened
up my eyes to some of thethings that God could do for us
(09:11):
during this season.
So it's.
It says this ship your grain.
Now, when you think grain,think whatever your job is,
whatever like you're doing toprovide for your family,
whatever that looks like, shipyour grain across the sea.
After many days, you mayreceive a return, so there's no
(09:33):
guarantee that your businesswill seed or that your job will
be there tomorrow.
And then it says, verse 2invest in seven ventures yes,
and eight, which is just like apoetic way that they would use
invest in seven, no eight andthen it says you do not know
what disaster may come upon theland.
(09:54):
And then, if you skip down alittle bit to verse 6, it says
so your seed in the morning andat evening, let your hands not
be idle, for you do not knowwhich will seed, whether this or
that, or whether both will doequally well.
And this was huge for me.
(10:15):
During this season we createdwhat we call our super eight.
During that season, one ofthose led to performing on Penn
and Teller another one led todoing zoom shows.
There were eight of them, though, and not all of them succeeded.
We, we created, we wrote a bookduring that season, and that
(10:41):
one, by God's grace, it seated.
So there were lots of successes, and there were a few that that
just didn't work out, that itwasn't meant to be, didn't, it
didn't happen, but we wereinvesting in eight, not knowing
what would seed, what would fail, and I guess and maybe I'll ask
you, babe, like, because foryou that season was very, very
(11:03):
different of like comingalongside a meter in that season
, but also going back to getyour masters during that season
so what did that season looklike for you?
and if somebody's strugglingwith like, hey, we're in this in
between or we're trying tofigure things out and there's a
lot of tension, maybe right now,what would you encourage them
(11:25):
with?
Kimberly (11:26):
Yeah, I think for us it was a gosh, it was a bizarre
season and you and I had to keeptouching base, especially
connecting to keep the marriagestrong, obviously, but being
intentional in that, becausethat was the first time where I
stepped away from this ministrythat we've been running for 20
(11:50):
years together, so becauseyou're running the back end of
all of it.
Danny Ray (11:55):
And there was no back end.
Yeah, the business side of it.
Kimberly (11:57):
Yeah, there's nothing to do.
On that end, I would say a hugeshout out and a huge blessing
was is our manager, gretchen,and so having somebody come
alongside and encourage you, shehelped come up with those super
eight.
Danny Ray (12:15):
Oh for sure she was instrumental there in that whole
season.
Yeah and skill.
Kimberly (12:19):
So I think that was a huge part of it, that okay, yes,
my role changed, everybody'sroles changed, but that was a
huge blessing to have somebodyelse help with those things and
cast vision and brainstorm andyou know.
(12:39):
So I think maybe part of thatis just knowing.
Part of it's knowing ourstrengths and our weaknesses.
That that's not my strengthanyway to be, you know,
brainstorming and shootingwhat's the expression?
Shooting things in the dark,shooting Like I don't know.
Danny Ray (12:58):
What are you shooting in the dark?
Kimberly (12:59):
I don't know, shots in the dark.
I guess that's the expression,right.
Danny Ray (13:03):
There's a lot of people that have died.
Now You're shooting in the dark.
Oh hey, no, no, no.
Kimberly (13:08):
No, but just that's not the brainstorming part is
not my the dream.
Danny Ray (13:14):
Implement.
Yeah, you're better atimplementing and you know
putting those things into action.
Kimberly (13:19):
Right.
So I was implementing andputting things into action with
my studies, so I took a totallydifferent role but at the same
time, we had to keep beingintentional about connecting
with each other every day, andthat was a big switch for us.
Danny Ray (13:37):
Yeah, it definitely.
It was a huge switch becauseall of a sudden you know like
the finances are gone.
I'm desperately praying andwe're praying together on.
Kimberly (13:47):
How do we?
Danny Ray (13:47):
figure out how do we make ends meet to put food on
the table, quite literally.
And and then we knew thatduring this season was an
opportunity for you to go backto school.
But with that, we, you know,made the office upstairs for you
, and then I'm workingdownstairs and for 17 years we
had worked primarily.
Side by side, side by side, andso we had to learn to be
(14:11):
intentional about carving outtime.
And yeah, because it was, itbecame more tricky.
Kimberly (14:19):
I don't know if it's more, I guess more supportive
roles for each other, which isprobably more typical of other
couples.
Right, they're not usuallyworking together as closely as
we were, so anyway, but but thatsending the ecclesiasties 11
really helped you to focus on.
Okay, we're sending out eightships so to speak right.
(14:42):
Metaphorically, and we're goingto try all these eight things
and see what God does with it.
And they were Great ideas, theywere intentional, they were,
you know, thought through,prayed through all of those
things in uncertain times.
That's, that's what it takes.
Danny Ray (15:00):
And I think the key word that I would say there in
terms of the relationship isbeing intentional, like we could
talk about the business sideand things that we did that were
successful and things that werefailures, but in defining what
is sass and for us, yeah, yeahyeah, the the bottom line is we
(15:21):
we had to carve out time to beintentional, and I think it was
more difficult during that time,because being intentional to to
carve out time for a date, it'slike where we're gonna go,
everything's closed down.
Kimberly (15:35):
You know.
Danny Ray (15:36):
So it was like do you want to watch a movie together?
Well, we watched 16 moviestoday.
No, you know it was you know,let let's go for a walk, let's
go for a drive, let's, you know,in just learning to kind of get
back to some of the basics andfigure out what are, what are
things we could do together, andI think that's always something
as a couple is.
(15:57):
You know, some couples have alot of things that they enjoy
doing together.
One of the things that we enjoydoing together is working
together and that that piece was.
Kimberly (16:09):
Changed significantly, yeah, and so we were.
Danny Ray (16:14):
We were learning to navigate.
That.
I think that's the key is islearn to navigate those when
setbacks come, when rejectioncomes, when loss comes is Be
intentional about creating timeand carving out time to be
together.
Kimberly (16:29):
Because the alternative is that we pull away
from each other right so oftenand and that, of course, is what
the enemy wants is that, oh,everybody, just pull pull away
from each other and go to kindof your corners of the ring and
Try and work through it on yourown.
And, oh, you know, if you hadjust tried completely on your
(16:50):
own to figure out how to makeends meet for us, that that
wouldn't have gone as well.
And if I had just been in mycorner and and Doing my studies
and and us you know, not beingintentional about connecting
really would have hurt therelationship for sure.
Danny Ray (17:08):
Yeah, and I do think there was some some crossover of
dreaming together when we wereworking on the book.
You know we oh yeah.
You know we had lots of time toto really think through what
are the areas that We've beenhelped a lot in our relationship
.
What are the strengths of ourrelationship?
(17:28):
What can we teach others?
and that stuff we've beenthinking about for years, but to
put it to paper, is a differenttask and I just I want to say,
during that season, and ifyou're in a season that seems
uncertain right now, this is oneof the verses that that I come
to over and over again.
It's Habakkuk 3, this entireprayer, and Habakkuk 3 is
(17:53):
Definitely one of my favoriteprayers and all of the
scriptures, but this is the endof it.
It says Though the fig treedoes not bud and there are no
grapes on the vines.
So think of whatever yourbusiness is.
You know, fig tree is notbudding, no grapes there's on.
The olive crop fails, thefields produce no food.
Though there are no sheep inthe pen.
(18:14):
Like business is not good,right, there's no sheep in the
pen and there's no cattle in thestalls.
What do we do?
Verse 18 says yet I willrejoice in the Lord.
Hmm, I will be joyful in God.
My Savior is, no matter whatthe Circumstances.
And Paul gives us to us overand over again, is is it?
(18:37):
Our joy isn't contingent onwhat's happening around us?
Hmm, and it's easy for us toget wrapped in to whatever our
business is, whatever is goingon around us, and to say Well,
based on that, I'm going to, youknow, respond in this way, but
God says, to learn to be contentin all things, to rejoice even
whenever things falling apart.
Kimberly (18:58):
Hey man, yeah, not easy, but definitely.
I think helping each other,like reminding each other at
times too, of God's promises,that way brings us back to
because we're we're normal,we're human.
We have definite moments, oreven days sometimes, where it's
just the weight of the world onour shoulders and it just feels
(19:21):
like wow, how are we going tonavigate this one?
And but then reminding eachother again that teamwork and
going, okay, you know what it'sgonna be okay.
Danny Ray (19:32):
Yeah, and I think even right now for us is you
know, we we're in a new venture,which I feel like is a constant
thing for us, as we're sendingout ships, trying out new things
, and so in this new season,we've been trying a residency
show where I'm performing 10miles away from our house, or
(19:53):
something like that which isbrand new.
But the tricky part of that isI've never had to think about
getting people to a show.
I just show up.
People are there, do the show,go home.
And I've done that for myentire life.
Kimberly (20:07):
And you're still doing it.
Danny Ray (20:08):
Yeah, yeah, no, I'm still on the road constantly,
but this is In addition to yeah,in addition to just a local
event where we built a showroomover the course of a year and
now I'm trying to figure out howdo I sell tickets to it, and
when the tickets are low, it'sreally easy to be discouraged
and be like oh, you know what'shappening.
(20:30):
But coming back to that verse,even if there's no ticket sales,
even if nobody shows up, yet.
I want to rejoice in my God thatthere's.
That's not what makes me who Iam or defines me, or defines my
success.
My success is in God and whohe's designed me to be, in
aligning with that and so yeah.
(20:50):
So, for whatever it's worth, ifyou're feeling discouraged
today is just know that God'sfor you in that, regardless of
your situation, that I wouldencourage you to just rejoice in
Him.
Kimberly (21:06):
Yeah, that's a great message for all of us, right.
Danny Ray (21:11):
All right, well, with that, we are going to wrap it
up.
So, if you're having lost, wejust want to encourage you to be
intentional, to seek out wisecounsel and to know the,
regardless of the circumstances,to rejoice in God, that he's
going to sustain you, he's goingto provide for you and he's
going to be there for you.
We hope that there's somethingin here that will help you to
(21:33):
really live this out and tocreate the best relationship
that you can.
I'm Danny Ray and I'm Kimberly,and this is we Do.
Kimberly (21:43):
Whatever it takes.
Welcome back, it is good to be with you.
We are going to be talkingabout doing whatever it takes in
the areas of uncertainty today.
Yeah, so when things areuncertain, maybe it's a loss of
a job, loss of a loved one,maybe it's just a major
transition or a small transition.
Kimberly (00:18):
Or a global pandemic.
Hey, look at that.
Yeah, we are going to address alittle bit Any kind of
uncertainty, right yeah?
Danny Ray (00:25):
a little bit of what we did during the pandemic, but
it's not just that.
It's really things that we'vedone in patterns that we've set
up from the beginning that wewant to look at.
Yeah, how do you in the midstof your relationship one of the
things that's going to help youcreate a great relationship is
when things are uncertain, whenthings get a little shaky, which
(00:47):
can happen like things get alittle cattywampus in a moment.
Nice word Turn upside down.
Kimberly (00:55):
Yes, turn upside down, and yeah, it could be just a
piece of mail that comes in andyou go oh, we're being Jury duty
.
I did get that this week.
Yay, I get to do that.
Danny Ray (01:05):
You're serving our country.
Kimberly (01:07):
Right, right, right, let's be positive.
Yeah, just in the way of work,because this is my issue there.
But mail, I mean you can openthe mail and there's a tax audit
.
Life can be changed.
Danny Ray (01:21):
We've had three of those.
Those are so fun.
Kimberly (01:24):
Hey, but we didn't do anything wrong, so that was a
good thing.
But uncertainty right, so itcould be it can hit just your
car, right, Like somethinghappens in the car or a doctor's
appointment or just anything.
Right, yeah, get a flat tire.
Danny Ray (01:41):
How do you navigate uncertain times?
And so I want to take you wayback to 2001.
I was a youth pastor andabsolutely like love being a
youth pastor, loved just beingwith the students, creating
things that were interesting.
I feel like it's one of thethings that I've done all along
(02:04):
is how do I create things thatconnect people to who God is?
Kimberly (02:08):
and who's love for them.
Danny Ray (02:10):
And so 2001 started praying through, thinking
through what would it look liketo step out and create a new
ministry, and at the time Ididn't know any other magicians
out there doing it.
Kimberly (02:24):
No, yeah, that worked.
Danny Ray (02:25):
There's a handful that I've trained up now and
some others that I haven't thatI know of that are out there
doing it, but at the time Ididn't have like a reference
point for oh, here's how to be atraveling magician who speaks
at church.
Kimberly (02:38):
He speaks at churches conferences.
Yeah, there was no template.
Danny Ray (02:42):
We've done it thousands of times.
Yeah, out of that, when I wasmeeting with one of my mentors,
we were sitting in Coco's in SanDiego, el Cajon to be specific,
and we were sitting there.
We're talking about differentideas, and he put nine dots on a
napkin and a square, oh yeah.
(03:04):
You know three up, three down,you know like a square, almost
like looks like tic-tac-toe, butjust dots.
And then he said, danny, I wantyou to put the 10th dot.
And I was like, well, wheredoes it go?
He's like you have to decidewhere that goes.
And I put it clear on the otherside of the napkin and he
circled that and he said theministry you're talking about is
(03:26):
a 10th dot ministry.
It doesn't fit in the box ofwhat everybody else is doing,
and I feel like that has beenjust really helpful for us in
our relationship.
And how do we create a marriagethat's healthy in the midst of
having things that don't fitinto the box?
Kimberly (03:45):
And I feel like there's so many things you like
not fitting in the box, that'syour jam.
I'm perfectly happy with thebox, so there's a difference in
us right there.
But I did support you beingoutside of the traditional job
and, yeah, god called us to itand therefore equipped us to do
(04:05):
that.
Danny Ray (04:06):
Super thankful that you have supported me all along.
So I want to talk about how, ina relationship, how do you
support the other one when theidea just seems like it's out
there?
Kimberly (04:21):
Oh, it was out there, and lots of your ideas are out
there.
Danny Ray (04:27):
But that's certainly bad.
Kimberly (04:29):
I've learned to appreciate that.
But actually you've alreadykind of said one of the one of
the first things is you went toa mentor at that time and asked,
you sought wise counsel and andbiblically that something were
called to do when we have maybea crazy idea or or just some
uncertainty, like we said, notsure how something's going to to
(04:50):
work out or pan out or what weshould do, and then seeking that
wise counsel is definitely partof that.
Danny Ray (04:57):
Yeah.
So I think, if there is, youknow, an area of loss or
uncertainty or something you'relooking at jumping into in, not
that you need two years, but wetook two years to pray through
that, to seek wise counsel inevery single one of the
counselors, both people that Iknew and people that I don't and
(05:18):
just an idea for in any area,whether it's a spiritual mentor,
whether it's a business mentor,whether it's a speaking.
I've gone to you know guys whoare experts at you know
communication and speaking andwhatever, wherever you need help
and we've gone to differentmarriage goovers and currently
(05:39):
are meeting with a couple on amonthly basis to try to glean
wisdom from them.
But this is one of the patternsthat we've set up from the
beginning is hey, if we don'tknow something, there's somebody
out there that does.
Let's try to pick their brainsand ask them for wisdom.
And hey, you've been down theroad a little bit.
This is, if you have ever cometo one of our the things that we
(06:03):
teach at our house, you knowwhere we're going through a book
or something like that.
As a married couple, you knowwe've had, you know usually
studies yeah, six couples or soat a time, and one of the things
we always encourage them to dois to meet with other couples
that are older or have beenmarried longer than them and ask
(06:23):
them hey, what's going right,what's going well?
And what they tend to find outis that it's not perfect like
they think you know like theylook at you know, they look up
to these couples and go like, oh, they have to have everything
together.
Well, nobody has it all together, you know, there there's
struggles, there's pain points,there's things that they've
learned, but a lot of timesthey're a little bit further up
(06:46):
the road and so that's where Iwould just always encourage
people to just ask.
I mean the worst case scenario.
They say nope, I don't have thetime.
And here's some specifics interms of asking Is anytime I ask
somebody to mentor me, alwaysset the boundaries on it so they
they don't feel like, oh wow,this guy wants to meet with me
(07:07):
every hour on the for the restof my life.
Kimberly (07:10):
That's a good point.
Danny Ray (07:10):
It's usually I say hey, I would like to you know,
ask you to mentor me in whateverarea that is.
So this is different than justseeking wise counsel on a one
time basis from someone, gotcha,and I would like to do this for
six months and I'll take youout for lunch once a month and
you could pick the restaurantand we'll eat there and I
(07:31):
usually, wherever they'rethey're located, I go to them
regardless of how far, and I'vedriven hours and hours to get to
people to pick their brains onon things.
So that's just like some yeah,picking stuff on that.
Yeah, but yeah.
So, from the beginning, justtrying to develop, how do we, in
(07:53):
the middle of that, moving fromone job to another, what do we?
Kimberly (07:58):
do I mean a steady job with a steady paycheck and a
high, moving to something withcomplete unsteadyness.
Is that a word?
I don't know.
It is now your coining words.
I like it.
I'd hear it when you do yourcoining words.
Danny Ray (08:14):
So so fast forward 20 years.
We've been at it for well, itwould be like 17, 18 years.
Fast forward, like 17 18 to.
You know, we're in the middleof 2020 and we've lost every
single show.
Every event for a year is done.
Kimberly (08:34):
Everyone had to cancel .
Danny Ray (08:36):
There you know, in 2020, with the pandemic, there
were no live events.
All the live events, at leastthat we had, were completely
canceled.
Kimberly (08:47):
And so across the country.
Yeah, it didn't matter what thecity stated.
Yeah, they all had to.
Danny Ray (08:51):
We had to completely pivot and go okay, what are we
going to do?
And I was reading throughEcclesiastes at the time and I
got to chapter 11, and inchapter 11 it just really opened
up my eyes to some of thethings that God could do for us
(09:11):
during this season.
So it's.
It says this ship your grain.
Now, when you think grain,think whatever your job is,
whatever like you're doing toprovide for your family,
whatever that looks like, shipyour grain across the sea.
After many days, you mayreceive a return, so there's no
(09:33):
guarantee that your businesswill seed or that your job will
be there tomorrow.
And then it says, verse 2invest in seven ventures yes,
and eight, which is just like apoetic way that they would use
invest in seven, no eight andthen it says you do not know
what disaster may come upon theland.
(09:54):
And then, if you skip down alittle bit to verse 6, it says
so your seed in the morning andat evening, let your hands not
be idle, for you do not knowwhich will seed, whether this or
that, or whether both will doequally well.
And this was huge for me.
(10:15):
During this season we createdwhat we call our super eight.
During that season, one ofthose led to performing on Penn
and Teller another one led todoing zoom shows.
There were eight of them, though, and not all of them succeeded.
We, we created, we wrote a bookduring that season, and that
(10:41):
one, by God's grace, it seated.
So there were lots of successes, and there were a few that that
just didn't work out, that itwasn't meant to be, didn't, it
didn't happen, but we wereinvesting in eight, not knowing
what would seed, what would fail, and I guess and maybe I'll ask
you, babe, like, because foryou that season was very, very
(11:03):
different of like comingalongside a meter in that season
, but also going back to getyour masters during that season
so what did that season looklike for you?
and if somebody's strugglingwith like, hey, we're in this in
between or we're trying tofigure things out and there's a
lot of tension, maybe right now,what would you encourage them
(11:25):
with?
Kimberly (11:26):
Yeah, I think for us it was a gosh, it was a bizarre
season and you and I had to keeptouching base, especially
connecting to keep the marriagestrong, obviously, but being
intentional in that, becausethat was the first time where I
stepped away from this ministrythat we've been running for 20
(11:50):
years together, so becauseyou're running the back end of
all of it.
Danny Ray (11:55):
And there was no back end.
Yeah, the business side of it.
Kimberly (11:57):
Yeah, there's nothing to do.
On that end, I would say a hugeshout out and a huge blessing
was is our manager, gretchen,and so having somebody come
alongside and encourage you, shehelped come up with those super
eight.
Danny Ray (12:15):
Oh for sure she was instrumental there in that whole
season.
Yeah and skill.
Kimberly (12:19):
So I think that was a huge part of it, that okay, yes,
my role changed, everybody'sroles changed, but that was a
huge blessing to have somebodyelse help with those things and
cast vision and brainstorm andyou know.
(12:39):
So I think maybe part of thatis just knowing.
Part of it's knowing ourstrengths and our weaknesses.
That that's not my strengthanyway to be, you know,
brainstorming and shootingwhat's the expression?
Shooting things in the dark,shooting Like I don't know.
Danny Ray (12:58):
What are you shooting in the dark?
Kimberly (12:59):
I don't know, shots in the dark.
I guess that's the expression,right.
Danny Ray (13:03):
There's a lot of people that have died.
Now You're shooting in the dark.
Oh hey, no, no, no.
Kimberly (13:08):
No, but just that's not the brainstorming part is
not my the dream.
Danny Ray (13:14):
Implement.
Yeah, you're better atimplementing and you know
putting those things into action.
Kimberly (13:19):
Right.
So I was implementing andputting things into action with
my studies, so I took a totallydifferent role but at the same
time, we had to keep beingintentional about connecting
with each other every day, andthat was a big switch for us.
Danny Ray (13:37):
Yeah, it definitely.
It was a huge switch becauseall of a sudden you know like
the finances are gone.
I'm desperately praying andwe're praying together on.
Kimberly (13:47):
How do we?
Danny Ray (13:47):
figure out how do we make ends meet to put food on
the table, quite literally.
And and then we knew thatduring this season was an
opportunity for you to go backto school.
But with that, we, you know,made the office upstairs for you
, and then I'm workingdownstairs and for 17 years we
had worked primarily.
Side by side, side by side, andso we had to learn to be
(14:11):
intentional about carving outtime.
And yeah, because it was, itbecame more tricky.
Kimberly (14:19):
I don't know if it's more, I guess more supportive
roles for each other, which isprobably more typical of other
couples.
Right, they're not usuallyworking together as closely as
we were, so anyway, but but thatsending the ecclesiasties 11
really helped you to focus on.
Okay, we're sending out eightships so to speak right.
(14:42):
Metaphorically, and we're goingto try all these eight things
and see what God does with it.
And they were Great ideas, theywere intentional, they were,
you know, thought through,prayed through all of those
things in uncertain times.
That's, that's what it takes.
Danny Ray (15:00):
And I think the key word that I would say there in
terms of the relationship isbeing intentional, like we could
talk about the business sideand things that we did that were
successful and things that werefailures, but in defining what
is sass and for us, yeah, yeahyeah, the the bottom line is we
(15:21):
we had to carve out time to beintentional, and I think it was
more difficult during that time,because being intentional to to
carve out time for a date, it'slike where we're gonna go,
everything's closed down.
Kimberly (15:35):
You know.
Danny Ray (15:36):
So it was like do you want to watch a movie together?
Well, we watched 16 moviestoday.
No, you know it was you know,let let's go for a walk, let's
go for a drive, let's, you know,in just learning to kind of get
back to some of the basics andfigure out what are, what are
things we could do together, andI think that's always something
as a couple is.
(15:57):
You know, some couples have alot of things that they enjoy
doing together.
One of the things that we enjoydoing together is working
together and that that piece was.
Kimberly (16:09):
Changed significantly, yeah, and so we were.
Danny Ray (16:14):
We were learning to navigate.
That.
I think that's the key is islearn to navigate those when
setbacks come, when rejectioncomes, when loss comes is Be
intentional about creating timeand carving out time to be
together.
Kimberly (16:29):
Because the alternative is that we pull away
from each other right so oftenand and that, of course, is what
the enemy wants is that, oh,everybody, just pull pull away
from each other and go to kindof your corners of the ring and
Try and work through it on yourown.
And, oh, you know, if you hadjust tried completely on your
(16:50):
own to figure out how to makeends meet for us, that that
wouldn't have gone as well.
And if I had just been in mycorner and and Doing my studies
and and us you know, not beingintentional about connecting
really would have hurt therelationship for sure.
Danny Ray (17:08):
Yeah, and I do think there was some some crossover of
dreaming together when we wereworking on the book.
You know we oh yeah.
You know we had lots of time toto really think through what
are the areas that We've beenhelped a lot in our relationship
.
What are the strengths of ourrelationship?
(17:28):
What can we teach others?
and that stuff we've beenthinking about for years, but to
put it to paper, is a differenttask and I just I want to say,
during that season, and ifyou're in a season that seems
uncertain right now, this is oneof the verses that that I come
to over and over again.
It's Habakkuk 3, this entireprayer, and Habakkuk 3 is
(17:53):
Definitely one of my favoriteprayers and all of the
scriptures, but this is the endof it.
It says Though the fig treedoes not bud and there are no
grapes on the vines.
So think of whatever yourbusiness is.
You know, fig tree is notbudding, no grapes there's on.
The olive crop fails, thefields produce no food.
Though there are no sheep inthe pen.
(18:14):
Like business is not good,right, there's no sheep in the
pen and there's no cattle in thestalls.
What do we do?
Verse 18 says yet I willrejoice in the Lord.
Hmm, I will be joyful in God.
My Savior is, no matter whatthe Circumstances.
And Paul gives us to us overand over again, is is it?
(18:37):
Our joy isn't contingent onwhat's happening around us?
Hmm, and it's easy for us toget wrapped in to whatever our
business is, whatever is goingon around us, and to say Well,
based on that, I'm going to, youknow, respond in this way, but
God says, to learn to be contentin all things, to rejoice even
whenever things falling apart.
Kimberly (18:58):
Hey man, yeah, not easy, but definitely.
I think helping each other,like reminding each other at
times too, of God's promises,that way brings us back to
because we're we're normal,we're human.
We have definite moments, oreven days sometimes, where it's
just the weight of the world onour shoulders and it just feels
(19:21):
like wow, how are we going tonavigate this one?
And but then reminding eachother again that teamwork and
going, okay, you know what it'sgonna be okay.
Danny Ray (19:32):
Yeah, and I think even right now for us is you
know, we we're in a new venture,which I feel like is a constant
thing for us, as we're sendingout ships, trying out new things
, and so in this new season,we've been trying a residency
show where I'm performing 10miles away from our house, or
(19:53):
something like that which isbrand new.
But the tricky part of that isI've never had to think about
getting people to a show.
I just show up.
People are there, do the show,go home.
And I've done that for myentire life.
Kimberly (20:07):
And you're still doing it.
Danny Ray (20:08):
Yeah, yeah, no, I'm still on the road constantly,
but this is In addition to yeah,in addition to just a local
event where we built a showroomover the course of a year and
now I'm trying to figure out howdo I sell tickets to it, and
when the tickets are low, it'sreally easy to be discouraged
and be like oh, you know what'shappening.
(20:30):
But coming back to that verse,even if there's no ticket sales,
even if nobody shows up, yet.
I want to rejoice in my God thatthere's.
That's not what makes me who Iam or defines me, or defines my
success.
My success is in God and whohe's designed me to be, in
aligning with that and so yeah.
(20:50):
So, for whatever it's worth, ifyou're feeling discouraged
today is just know that God'sfor you in that, regardless of
your situation, that I wouldencourage you to just rejoice in
Him.
Kimberly (21:06):
Yeah, that's a great message for all of us, right.
Danny Ray (21:11):
All right, well, with that, we are going to wrap it
up.
So, if you're having lost, wejust want to encourage you to be
intentional, to seek out wisecounsel and to know the,
regardless of the circumstances,to rejoice in God, that he's
going to sustain you, he's goingto provide for you and he's
going to be there for you.
We hope that there's somethingin here that will help you to
(21:33):
really live this out and tocreate the best relationship
that you can.
I'm Danny Ray and I'm Kimberly,and this is we Do.
Kimberly (21:43):
Whatever it takes.
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